Nobody said that teachers at elite academies have to be heartthrobs.

Jiang Yu leaned against the cold wall, the nameless fire in his chest gradually subsided with a few deep breaths, leaving only a restless ember burning.

Just then, a belated sense of familiarity slowly surfaced in my mind.

Lin Xun.

This name...

He must have heard it somewhere before.

He frowned and began searching through his chaotic memories.

A few seconds later, a nearly forgotten fragment suddenly became clear—it was Wen Qiaoan.

Right there in the infirmary, Wen Qiaoan seemed to have casually mentioned that a student named Lin Xun had come in for treatment along with Yu Fuli, who had a broken bone.

By the way, after hearing that, he was planning to go find Lin Xun. Not because he cared much, but simply to find out what kind of person could have injured Yu Fuli.

But later, his attention was completely drawn to Yu Fuli, and when Yu Fuli took leave from the academy, the matter was completely forgotten.

It was him.

Jiang Yu straightened up and looked around for a long time. This unremarkable name had long been associated with Yu Fuli.

He twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that lacked warmth.

It seems that this meeting is something I absolutely must see.

"Knock knock—"

There was a knock on the office door.

Yu Fuli looked up from the pile of test papers and lesson plans on the table.

The door was pushed open a crack, and Qiao Qi peeked in halfway. Her round almond-shaped eyes quickly scanned the room to make sure that only Yu Fuli was there before she came in completely and gently closed the door behind her.

A lone man and a lone woman, alone in a room.

This realization unconsciously brought a barely suppressed smile to her lips, and a bright, sparkling joy flashed in her eyes. She tiptoed to the desk, her voice softer than usual: "Teacher Yu, you wanted to see me?"

Yu Fuli looked at the little bit of excitement that she tried to hide but still revealed in the corners of her eyes and brows. She didn't say anything, but just reached out and pulled out the empty chair opposite her.

"sit."

His voice was steady and normal.

Qiao, keep laughing, you won't be laughing for long.

Qiaoqi sat down as instructed, secretly fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, her heart beating a little fast.

Teacher Yu is so beautiful!

He's so charming when he's focused on his work; I really want to rip his clothes off! Hehehe...

Yu Fuli precisely pulled out a document from the thick stack of files on her right and gently pushed it in front of her.

Qiaoqi looked down—

It was an open math exam paper covered in red circles. At the very top, a glaringly bright red score was mercilessly printed.

The smile on her lips suddenly froze.

Yu Fuli leaned forward slightly, placed his hands clasped on the table, and looked at her calmly:

"Qiaoqi, let's talk about your grades."

"ah?!"

Qiaoqi's smile froze completely, her eyes widened, and she stared intently at the bright red score on the test paper, as if she could stare a hole through it.

Yu Fuli didn't give her time to be stunned. She tapped the table twice with her fingers and pointed directly at the terrible red circle: "Qiao Qi, look here. The third multiple choice question, the most basic formula, and you still got it wrong by substituting it in? The fill-in-the-blank questions are even more outrageous. You skipped steps like crazy and even reversed the positive and negative signs."

He flipped the paper to the back, where the major questions were covered with annotations: "For these last few questions, the thought process is somewhat relevant, but where are the key steps? Did you forget them? Your logic broke down halfway through. Did you learn math offline?"

Qiaoqi lowered her head further and further, her ears turning bright red, her fingers gripping the hem of her school uniform skirt tightly.

Yu Fuli concluded incisively: "Simply put, you may understand a little bit of the knowledge points, but that's all you really understand. It's all riddled with holes."

"Teacher..." Qiaoqi forced a smile that was more like a grimace, her voice barely audible, "I...I was wrong."

"What did I do wrong?" Yu Fuli leaned back, crossed her arms, and her eyes clearly said: You're not leaving until you give me a straight answer.

Qiaoqi buried her face even lower, almost into her collar, and grumbled in a muffled voice with a hint of self-abandonment: "Um... math is too hard... I have no motivation to study it at all."

"Motivation?" Yu Fuli repeated the word, indicating understanding. Learning definitely requires motivation to continue. "What kind of motivation do you want?"

Qiao Qi seemed to have grasped at a straw, abruptly raising her head, her eyes quickly glancing at Yu Fuli before darting back down. Her cheeks flushed, and her voice was barely audible, each word seemingly squeezed out: "If... if there were something particularly beautiful and attractive to motivate me, like... a beautiful photo of the teacher... maybe... maybe I'd have the motivation..."

She spoke with increasing insecurity, and the last few words were almost muffled.

Yu Fuli: "..."

He paused for two seconds, a subtle pause appearing on his usually gentle expression. He blinked, as if to confirm whether he had misheard.

What is that?

Want his photo?

What is the causal relationship between this and mathematical motivation?

"Wasn't what we filmed before enough?"

Yu Fuli refers to the military uniform photos taken in order to recruit fan club members.

"Those before?" Qiaoqi shook her head quickly, her cheeks flushing even more, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light, as if she were going all out. "Not enough! Those were all photos of her in military uniform, completely covered up! I want the kind... the kind..."

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said quickly, "I want the kind where you can see the collarbone! Or the lines of the arms! Preferably with slightly wet hair or the look of someone who's just finished exercising! Someone with definition! Teacher, you know what I mean!"

Yu Fuli: "..."

He raised his hand and silently pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down a bit.

In that instant, he seemed to hear his teacher's certificate creaking in the air, as if it were about to collapse under the weight of the pressure.

Something is violently attacking his professional dignity and basic common sense as a teacher.

Looking at the girl in front of him, whose face was flushed but whose eyes were unusually stubborn, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness for the first time in the classroom.

"If...if you'd like to attend the horseback riding lesson this afternoon," George suddenly looked up, her eyes lighting up again, and held up three fingers, vowing confidently, "I promise! I'll definitely get a passing grade on the next math test!"

Yu Fuli's eyebrows twitched slightly as she looked at her reckless expression. She quickly weighed the options in her mind: could a trip to the horse farm and a single riding lesson really guarantee a student's passing grade?

It sounds like a very cost-effective deal.

"Are you sure?" he asked, scrutinizing George. "Can you really guarantee she'll pass?"

"Absolutely! 100% sure!" Qiaoqi nodded hastily, afraid he might change his mind. "Teacher, you can just go to the horse farm this afternoon! I'll take care of everything—the lesson arrangements, the equipment preparation, all the details! You just need to be there!"

Seeing the unusually bright light in the girl's eyes, even carrying a kind of excited light as if a plan had succeeded, Yu Fuli remained silent for a moment.

Finally, he nodded slightly.

"Okay. I trust you this time."

He wanted to see what kind of passing grade a single equestrian lesson could actually guarantee.